Champs close out prep year

There is no better way to end your high school athletic career than going out a state champion.

South High School’s Nicholas Meihaus and Rye’s Sam Ambler doubled and tripled that feeling with amazing performances at the Colorado High School Track and Field Championships held at Jefferson County Stadium.

Ambler wears a three-jewel crown that could have been four had the Thunderbolts’ 1,600-meter relay team not been disqualified after winning the event in record time.

Instead, Ambler closed his prep career with record-setting performances in the 2A boys 800-meter run (1:57.33), triple jump (44-6) and running the anchor leg on the T-Bolts’ 3,200 meter relay (8:03.94).

Meihaus was equally impressive as a double winner. He beat the defending champion in the high jump with an all-time Pueblo record leap of 6 feet, 10 inches, then added the pole vault victory to his belt with a jump of 15 feet. He took a shot at the state record in both events but fell shy each time.

Ambler and Meihaus led a parade of state champions hailing from Southern Colorado that included:

Canon City hurdler Trenton Stringari, a junior, captured the 4A boys 300-meter hurdles with a time of 38.20 seconds.

Trinidad senior Nick Paradiso won the 3A boys discus title with a throw of 169 feet, 2 inches.

Garrett Quintana, a sophomore from John Mall High School in Walsenburg, won the 2A boys discus with a throw of 149 feet, 5 inches.

East diver Vitalii Shestakov was a state runner-up at the 4A championship meet, compiling 477.05 points for his 11 dives.

Rye’s Luis Ortiz pitched and hit the Thunderbolts into the 2A state baseball semifinals this week. He allowed only four hits while striking out 11 batters and scored three runs in the T-Bolts’ 9-1 opening victory over Sargent. Ortiz then scored three more times in a 7-1 quarterfinal win over Rocky Ford.

Trenton Hughes, another Rye hurler, checked Rocky Ford on four hits and struck out 11.